Recognizing that a strong democracy and civil society depend on solid institutions and the rule of law, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) programs have focused on criminal justice reform assistance provided to the Azeri police, the Procuracy, the Defense Bar, and the Judiciary. Azerbaijan has made progress in terms of adopting national action plans to combat human trafficking and corruption and drafting legislation to combat anti-terrorism, money laundering and human trafficking. INL support is aimed at helping Azerbaijan to make permanent improvements to its justice sector, in line with the international standards articulated by the United Nations, Council of Europe, and the Financial Action Task Force. By reaching such standards, the Government of Azerbaijan (GOAJ) will be able to work more effectively with Euro-Atlantic partners and move toward closer integration with Europe.

U.S. Programs and Accomplishments

Resident Legal Advisor (RLA): The RLA program was established in 2004. The FY08-09 program will focus on six key areas, including: anti-terrorism, money laundering, corruption, and support for the effective implementation of the new Criminal Procedure Code.

Law Enforcement Development: This project aims to assist the GOAJ to create a modern law enforcement infrastructure that will increase the competence of law enforcement personnel and improve their ability to deter, deter and investigate domestic and transnational crime. A resident Senior Law Enforcement Advisor provides training and technical assistance.

Public Order Management: INL funded a Public Order Management (POM) program as part of the overall U.S. assistance for the October 2008 elections in Azerbaijan. The POM program was co-sponsored by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The program lasted three months and provided USG and OSCE mentoring and training to over 1,500 Azerbaijani personnel of the Azerbaijan Police and Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) Internal Troops in techniques that are consistent with international law enforcement practices on appropriate and proportional response to public assembly incidents. The training was designed to provide intermediate and senior command officers of the Azerbaijani police with the necessary tools to effectively deal with crowd control situations while respecting the rule of law and human rights of the participates. A senior command seminar was also conducted for senior staff of Azerbaijani MIA. Those personnel will be the commanders directly responsible for conducting necessary actions, in the event of riots or civil disorder. The international media portion of this seminar was designed to expose senior MIA commanders to the international media.

U.S. Government Funding FY2006-08FY07: $2.25 million (FSA)FY08: $2.035 million (FSA